Climbing
On Thursday July 4, 2024, a group of three males and three females went for a day hike starting at Andrew’s Lake to the top of Snowdon Mountain peak, Colorado. A 25-year-old male from Cookeville, Tennessee, who was a member of the group, fell 600-800 feet off the ridgeline of Snowdon Peak during the climb. Snowdon Peak is 11 miles southwest of the Town of Silverton and the trailhead is accessed from Andrews Lake. The San Juan County Sheriff’s Department received a 911 call in the afternoon on Thursday July 4 about the accident and dispatched the Silverton Medical Rescue Team at 4:09 p.m.. The 25-year-old male was pronounced deceased on Snowdon Peak after the 600- 800 foot fall from the ridgeline at 5:54 p.m. on Thursday evening.
Tyler George Director of the Silverton Medical Rescue Team stated: “At approximately 4:09 p.m. on July 4th, Silverton Medical Rescue was dispatched to a report of a fallen hiker on the east side of Snowdon Peak. Silverton Rescue members along with Flight for Life medics responded via helicopter and made contact with the party at around 5:45 p.m. and the patient was declared deceased at that time, despite the best effort of the victim’s hiking partners. The rescue team worked until dark, at which time recovery efforts were suspended and the mission was completed the following morning.” Tyler George continued with “Silverton Medical Rescue would like to extend our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. We would also like to thank Flight For Life Lifeguard 5, La Plata County Search & Rescue, San Juan County Sheriff’s Dept. and everyone who assisted in our efforts.”
San Juan County Sheriff Bruce Conrad said of the incident: “The mountains are dangerous, if you are coming to the San Juans to recreate, you really need to have a strong skill set and understand the risks you are putting yourself in. Not that there was anything wrong done by this group in this incident, it was a group of young hikers climbing a peak that is not a super difficult peak, but one missed step can be your last one.”
San Juan County Deputy Sheriff Adam Clifton reported that he picked up two out of the five remaining hikers and met them at Mile Marker 57 which became the established landing zone for the incident. They had been picked up off of Snowdon Peak by a Flight for Life helicopter and dropped at the landing zone that was established just North of the Andrews Lake entrance.
San Juan County Deputy Sheriff Adam Clifton said: “There is always high potential for loose rock in the San Juans and there is almost no solid rock in these mountains. There is climbing to be done and it is definitely more dangerous terrain then areas that are more consolidated. The thing that was lucky about this call was that we did not have our typical afternoon storms this week, we have had a high pressure that had pushed in, but this week, it has been bluebird afternoons which is an anomaly, usually we would not have been able to fly the helicopter up in there at 5:30 p.m. in the evening. We were able to fly in and not have the lightning and storms for our team to deal with.” He continued with, “I am just so sorry that they lost their son this way, it is really hard to deal with this type of loss and I give my condolences to the family, please reach out to the Sheriff’s department if you need anything.”
San Juan County Coroner Keri Metzler added, “My condolences go out to the family, friends and co-workers of this young man.”
